SOVIET DIPLOMAT IMMUNE FROM CHARGES IN CRASH

Scripps Howard News ServiceCHICAGO TRIBUNE

A high-ranking Soviet military attache was responsible for a car crash that injured three people, but he was not charged even though he had been drinking and was driving on the wrong side of the road, United States Park Police said.

Police identified the Soviet driver as Col. Sergei Smirnov, 46, whom they found at fault in the accident but did not charge because he has diplomatic immunity.

They said Smirnov, air attache at the Soviet Embassy here, was driving south in a northbound lane when the two cars collided.

Park Police Maj. Richard Cusick said Smirnov had been drinking.

Robert Malakoff, 59, of Washington, whose car was struck head-on by the Soviet driver, said he`s ''furious'' Smirnov was released.

''My rage grows each time I go to the hospital,'' said Malakoff, whose 85-year-old mother from Houston was hospitalized with a broken hip.

Malakoff, an aide of the Senate Committee on Banking and Urban Affairs, and his wife, Grace, were briefly hospitalized for cuts and bruises after the Saturday afternoon accident in northwest Washington.

Malakoff said Smirnov resisted arrest but was handcuffed and taken to Park Police headquarters after the accident. No police accident report was available this week, but other sources confirmed that Smirnov resisted arrest. Foreign envoys retain their immunity from prosecution but have been required to carry automobile liability insurance since Congress passed the Diplomatic Relations Act in 1978.

Reports indicate that in recent years there has been an increase in offenses caused by people with diplomatic immunity. Almost all the incidents are quietly handled by the State Department to avoid publicity that might upset U.S. relations with the embassies involved.